Forum on Small Theatres Brings Ideas For Change

3/17/2009

On February 17, 2009 Manhattan
Community Boards 1 through 5 jointly hosted a Public Forum on The State of
Small To Mid-Sized Theaters. Hundreds of attendees crammed into the
Player’s Club to show their support for the community, share their
experiences and begin the discussion about “Developing Strategies in this time of Crisis and Opportunity.”
In an effort to examine the problem from multiple points of view, the
panel and speakers included a variety of people with a stake in this
issue and ranged from Off-Off-Broadway (OOB) directors to elected
officials (a complete list of panelists is below).

Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough
President, began the evening by reaffirming that theatre, and
especially OOB, is an important part of what makes New York City
vibrant, “The 45 million tourists are not coming here to see our big
buildings… The reason they come is because they want to see our art and
our talent.” Many of the speakers echoed this sentiment agreeing that
small theatres benefit their communities, feed New York City both
culturally and economically, and contribute to the revitalization of
some areas. OOB was established as being nimble, creative, lean and
very active: qualities that will enable us to weather the current
recession better than many of our larger counterparts.

However, this raises the question of
how do companies who are already working close to the bone cut an
additional 10% - 15% of “fat,” when there is no fat to cut? Noting the
decrease in individual and foundation giving, Ben Cameron, Arts Program
Director for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, acknowledged that
“theatre and artists have felt the plunges [of the recession] as
acutely as any.” When seeking solutions to the current crisis, Cameron
prompted us to push “past your comfort zone with your best knowledge,
your best information, your best counsel because we know a business
that does not risk does not grow.”

The panel discussion identified two
major issues that most significantly hinder the growth of OOB: chronic
lack of funds and chronic lack of space. Not surprisingly, these two
topics were also the most passionately debated and often set panelists
at odds with one another.

Both Virginia Louloudes, Executive
Director of ART/NY and Cameron espoused the unencumbered benefits of
not owning a space in this economy. Louloudes noted that companies that
“produce in spaces that they don’t own are probably the healthiest
because they don’t have to worry about rent and maintenance.” While
John Clancy, Executive Director of the League of Independent Theatre,
was adamant that, “we need space before we need money.”

Tamara Greenfield, Executive Director
of FAB, suggested seeking alternative rehearsal and performance
spaces. For example, she has produced performances in a public pool
during off months. Kevin Cunningham, Executive Artistic Director of
Three Legged Dog, responded “some theatre can’t be done that way. Some
work has to have a good equipment base. It has to have a place for the
audience to be. It has to have a comfortable place for artists to sit
and work.”

One of the most vigorous debates was
whether stimulus money would actually reach OOB. Louloudes maintained
that “we can’t ask for more money from anybody because there’s no more
money. It’s gone guys.” However Paul Nagel, Director of Cultural Policy
from Councilmember Alan Gerson’s office countered that “there’s
hundreds of millions of dollars coming down to the states and the
cities and I think that there’s no reason that that money can’t be
going into cultural projects as well as any other economic development
or small business.” Assemblymember Daniel J. O’Donnell from the 69th
State Assembly District,agreed saying that he believed some of the
stimulus money may reach us in the form of a capital fund for the arts.

Many suggestions on how to overcome
our current challenges were put forward including: seeking
collaborations and cost sharing situations, keeping ticket prices low
to entice audiences, finding new ways of fundraising like teaching
classes or joining forces with local business, sharing resources,
embracing technology to drive down costs, and expanding to an
international scale if need be. However, as Melody Brooks, Artistic
Director of the New Perspectives Theatre Company pointed out, “these
are not new ideas… we’ve been doing it for 60 years; making do, finding
our audience, going where we need to go.”

Some of the ideas required a more
radical approach, such as the suggestion by Brad Burgess,
Administrative Director of The Living Theatre, that productions with
budgets over one million dollars be required to contribute to a general
theatre fund which could be accessed by smaller theaters. A similar
system in professional sports works to funnel revenue to minor league
teams.

Other ideas included: regulations
that would guarantee that a portion of city-administered grants be set
aside specifically for smaller companies (with $100,000 or less
budgets); exploring new for-profit/not-for-profit hybrid organizational
models; setting up a “clearinghouse” designed to match city-run
facilities that have available space with not-for-profits that are in
need of space; changing language in small business funding that
currently excludes many small theatres and nonprofits based on
definitions of “revenue” and “employees”; and tax incentives for
commercial real estate owners that include space for not-for-profits
and/or arts organizations.

Amidst all the ideas and debate,
perhaps the most significant and promising development was that the
community boards expressed their commitment to advocate for our
community. These boards are often the first to respond to community
concerns and make recommendations to elected officials about the city
budgets and neighborhood land use. As Paul Bartlett, Chair of Community
Board 3’s Arts Task Force explained, “The unique thing about community
boards is that the public officials and elected officials are
accountable to us… and what we are going to articulate in boards 1
through 5 is that arts and theatre is important in our districts.” To
that end, Stringer encouraged us to hold our elected officials to a
higher standard and create a “road map” of what changes would benefit
our community.

So, what’s the takeaway?

This public forum succeeded in
bringing together a diverse group of people to engage in spirited
conversation about small theater in New York City. It was a successful
show of support, but action must follow to create actual change. Many
speakers called on the audience to stay activated and involved. “It is
unbelievable how few people it takes, on message, to move a
politician,” said Nagle. If we stay motivated, Stringer said, “I
promise you, that you will keep this issue alive in the ‘09 election
and in the 2010 election and eventually people are going to get it:
that theatre is good for business, good for the next generation, good
for people who look at New York in a way that makes us the most
exciting place on Earth.”

ACTION ITEMSHere's what you can do now:

Advocate for NYSCA funding. Submit a 1-page impact or support
statement about NYSCA. You can email it to info@nyitawards.com. We will
collect and forward them.

Help keep theatre and OOB a priority by attending community board
meetings, sharing your experiences and speaking up. Check back about
important events where your voice is needed.

Send letters to your elected officials and representatives (click here for addresses). Bring
their attention to the two issues below and ask for their support:

- Expanding 421A to include tax breaks for developers who include ground floor
cultural spaces
- Support Council Member Gerson's tax abatement legislation for landlords who
rent to non-profit theatres

Public Forum Resource PageCheck
out the transcripts of this event, listen to the audio recordings or
watch the YouTube videos. We also include other important links.

Follow-UpOn
Tuesday, March 10th, the Arts Task Force of Community Board 3 met at
Theater for the New City to discuss the forum and events that have
occurred since the Public Forum.Go here for more about this.

Speakers & Panelists

Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough
President; Anthony Borelli, Director of Land Use for the Manhattan
Borough President; Ben Cameron, Program Director of the Doris Duke
Foundation; Kevin Cunningham, Executive Artistic Director of 3 Legged
Dog; Virginia Louloudes, ART/NY; Judith Malina, Founding Director of
the Living Theater; John Clancy the Executive Director of the League of
Independent Theatre; Katie Denny, President of SNEAC (Student Network
Exploring Arts and Culture) at Wagner NYU; and Paul Nagle, Director of
Cultural Policy for Councilmember Alan Gerson.